.: 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas Break: THE INVENTIONARIUM

WE RODE CLEVELAND'S VERSION OF A TRAIN DOWNTOWN TO THE INVENTIONARIUM. It is one of Santa's toy workshops and the kids got to help Santa make some new toys. It was very creative and it was a fun day.

THIS WAS ONE OF SANTA'S TOY MAKERS

WE HAD TO WAIT FOR OUR TURN TO GO IN

THIS IS THE (creepy) TOY MAKER THAT LET US IN

THIS IS THE FUN RECEPTIONIST

THIS WAS OUR FUN TOY INSTRUCTOR, ORANEJELLO (pronounced or-an-ja-lo)

THE BRAINSTORMING DEPARTMENT--THE KIDS GOT TO BRAINSTORM TOY IDEAS AND TRY TO MAKE NEW IDEAS FOR TOYS

THE KIDS MADE TOY PUPPETS AND THEN THEY ALL SANG JINGLE BELLS

THE KIDS MADE SNOW

THEY HAD BUCKETS OF SNOW FOR THE KIDS TO PLAY IN

THEY HELPED SANTA MAKE TOYS

THIS WAS SANTA'S ASSISTANT. SHE LET THE KIDS KNOW IT WOULD BE A FEW MORE MINUTES UNTIL THEY COULD SEE SANTA.

THE KIDS MADE TOWERS UNTIL SANTA WAS READY TO SEE THEM

WE COULDN'T TAKE PICTURES WITH SANTA UNLESS WE WANTED TO BUY THEIRS.

AFTER THE TOY WORKSHOP WE VISITED THE TALKING TREE-- The kids asked the tree questions and it talked back to them.

Christmas Break: Sledding

I think this was actually the first year that all 3 of the kids were able to walk back up the hill all by themselves! It was great!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Mom, did you know that I am always naughty but I am never on the Naughty list? This was after the kids read a letter from Santa that said they were all on the nice list. The Elf idea is definitely backfiring...

Thursday, December 23, 2010

What Trevor says goes...

Corbin thinks that Trevor knows everything there is to know, so most of his facts come from him. Corbin always starts his sentences with, "Did you know..." and then he'll bust out a fact. The other day he said, "Did you know that panthers can run faster than a speeding car?!" I said, really, how do you know? He said, "Trevor told me!" Today we were eating cottage cheese and chips (it's a Collette thing...try it, you might like it) and Corbin asked him why it is called cottage cheese. I heard Trevor say this (in his,-duh! don't you know- voice), "It's called that because it's made in a cottage and it's cheese." There you have it.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Pesky squirrels

Honestly, we like squirrels. We think they are mischievous and fun. But Dave was bound and determined to not let any squirrels eat the seeds from the bird feeders that he and the kids made. He built a 7 foot tall contraption to ensure that this would not happen. Here are the results...

Gingerbread house

NUMBER ONE SPEECH

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

"There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don't ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.

"Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he's got to play from the ground up - from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That's O.K. You've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the field second.

"Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization - an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win - to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.

"It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That's why they are there - to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules - but to win.

"And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.

"I don't say these things because I believe in the 'brute' nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he's exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."

--Vince Lombardi

In the Faith of Christ